BI and analytics to help reinvent business models, Gartner says

Business intelligence (BI) and analytics has an increasingly important role in reinventing business models, a leading analyst firm has claimed.

According to Gartner, IT departments must continue to lay the foundations for a world in which BI can add significant value to organisations and enhance decision making.

The firm said that up until now, analytics has largely been about IT projects.

However, as digital technologies - including cloud, mobile and social - continue to gain prominence, Gartner believes the influence of analytics will increase dramatically.

"We are rapidly heading towards a world of analytics everywhere," said Dan Sommer principal research analyst at Gartner.

He predicted that analytics will reach 50 per cent of potential users by 2014.

"By 2020, that figure will be 75 per cent, and we will be in a world where systems of record, systems of differentiation and systems of innovation are enabling IT, business and individuals to analyse data in a much denser fashion than before."

Post-2020, we’ll be heading toward 100 per cent of potential users and into the realms of the Internet of Everything.

Gartner claimed there are three factors that can discourage the sustained adoption of BI and analytics by its intended users.

These are ease of use, performance and relevance.

"Many disruptive technologies – Facebook and web browsers being just two examples - have displayed significant improvements in those factors," the firm reported.

"Now, there is a vast array of new technologies addressing ease of use, performance and relevance that unlocks new opportunities for business users."

Mr Sommer said one segment that is "really pushing usability to new levels" is interactive visualisation or data discovery - tools with appealing user interfaces, where users can mash data up, often into memory.

He claimed this segment is growing three times faster than traditional BI front-ends, and is expected to reach $1 billion (£643 million) in value by the end of 2014.

The expert suggested that the launch of new products, by firms including Microsoft, is propelling the market into "a newer, much more competitive phase".

"What this means is that data discovery has arrived as a mainstream architecture," he noted.

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